Archive for the ‘Auto Accident’ Category

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Thanksgiving Day pile-up accident on Interstate 10

25
Nov 2012
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Categories: 18-wheeler accidents Auto Accident

Two Pearland residents were killed and tens of others injured in a massive pile-up accident on Interstate 10 on Thanksgiving Day. The wreck happened on I-10 East near Winnie around 8:00 a.m. shutting down the highway in both directions. The westbound lanes were reopened within a few hours but the eastbound lanes remained closed most of Thanksgiving Day. Between 140 and 150 vehicles were involved, including numerous 18-wheelers. There were 80-90 people injured in the pileup: those people were transported to area hospitals. The apparent cause of the wreck was fog on the roadway combined with sunlight impairing visibility and setting off rear-end accidents.
The Pearland couple killed in the accident, Vincent Leggio and his wife Debbie Leggio, were part of an extremely close family and their loss is being powerfully felt. Mr. Leggio and his son, Vincent, Jr. worked together at Vinco Electric in Pearland, an electrician business they operated together. The Leggio’s white-colored Chevrolet Suburban was impacted by a tractor trailer, crushing the SUV.

Photo credit: Scott Lawrence KFDM

Photo credit: Scott Lawrence KFDM

Photo credit: Scott Lawrence KFDM

Photo credit: Scott Lawrence KFDM

Photo credit: Scott Lawrence KFDM

Photo credit: Scott Lawrence KFDM

Photo credit: Scott Lawrence KFDM

Photo credit: Scott Lawrence KFDM

Photo credit: Scott Lawrence KFDM

Photo credit: Scott Lawrence KFDM

UPS truck collides with SUV on FM 529 – one person killed

16
Nov 2012
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Categories: Auto Accident Wrongful death

A person was killed in a collision between a UPS truck and a passenger SUV yesterday. The silver-colored SUV and UPS truck crashed around 4:00 p.m. on FM 529 near Jackrabbit Road in northwest Harris County. The name of the person who died has not yet been released. The SUV rolled over in the crash: detective say it appears on of the drivers tried to turn and was hit by the other driver. A photograph from Channel 2’s web site (see below) appears to show passenger side front corner damage to the UPS truck.

Photo credit: Channel 2 News

Deputies hit head-on by Chevy pickup on Highway 6 at Little York

3
Nov 2012
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Categories: Auto Accident Drunk driving accidents

Two Harris County Deputies and a person they were providing courtesy transportation were hit head on in a car accident last night at Little York and Highway 6. Two patrol vehicles were stopped at a light in a turn lane facing northbound on Highway 6. A full-size Chevy pickup truck heading southbound on Highway 6 crashed into the front of the first patrol vehicle, pushing it backwards into the second patrol unit. Apparently this was a major impact: one of the patrol units was pushed back 28 feet from the point of impact.

The driver of the pickup truck was a 16-year old male that police believe was driving under the influence of synthetic marijuana. He will be given a mandatory blood draw at the hospital. With him in the vehicle was another person who allegedly asked the 16-year old to drive because the passenger was too intoxicated. Another passenger was a female runaway whose parents came to collect her. The deputy sheriff in the first vehicle hit was transported to hospital with a wrist injury (probably from the airbag) and bruising. ABC Channel 13’s story is here, and includes video.

If the 16-year old was unlicensed and/or intoxicated at the time of the crash, the passenger who asked the 16-year old to drive would probably be liable to the injured deputy for what is called negligent entrustment. That is when a person knowingly entrusts their vehicle to a person who is an unlicensed, incompetent or reckless driver, and the negligence of the person entrusted with the vehicle results in injury to a third party.

The injured deputy's wrecked patrol vehicle

A 16-year old crashed this Chevy pickup into the police car

HPD cruiser causes wrong way accident on Fulton Street

26
Oct 2012
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Categories: Auto Accident

Early this morning a Houston Police Department officer caused a wrong-way head on car accident, colliding with a pickup truck in a construction zone. The crash happened on Fulton Street at Bennington Street. HPD says a patrol unit occupied by two officers was responding to a Code 1 call and had its emergency lights on when it turned north on Fulton, not realizing the street was one-way southbound due to construction. The police car hit an oncoming pickup truck, sending the pickup driver and one of the officers to hospital. Apparently the underlying matter the patrol unit was responding to was a vehicle pursuit in the nearby area. Channel 2’s story is here.
Hopefully the City of Houston will take care of the truck owner’s medical expenses and the damage to his vehicle. Under Texas law, units of government have immunity from being sued in most circumstances, however the Texas Tort Claims Act provides exceptions to sovereign immunity, including negligence caused by a government employee while operating a motor driven vehicle. If the government employee happens to be a police officer responding to an emergency call with lights and sirens however, the person injured in the accident caused by the police officer would have to show either that the officer did not act in conformity with an emergency action law, or was acting with conscious indifference or reckless disregard for the safety of others. (See CPRC Sec. 101.055 (2) below). That can be a difficult burden to carry for someone looking to recover their damages from an accident caused by a Texas peace officer responding to an emergency call.
Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code Sec. 101.055. CERTAIN GOVERNMENTAL FUNCTIONS. This chapter does not apply to a claim arising: (1) in connection with the assessment or collection of taxes by a governmental unit; (2) from the action of an employee while responding to an emergency call or reacting to an emergency situation if the action is in compliance with the laws and ordinances applicable to emergency action, or in the absence of such a law or ordinance, if the action is not taken with conscious indifference or reckless disregard for the safety of others; or (3) from the failure to provide or the method of providing police or fire protection.

Photo credit: KHOU

Photo credit: KHOU

Teenager killed in car accident when shoplifters flee Baytown Police

21
Oct 2012
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Categories: Auto Accident Criminal law Wrongful death

According to Baytown Police, suspected shoplifters Jennifer Rene Jenkins (35) and Shannon Joe Chauncey (43), led police on a chase Friday night that culminated in a multi-vehicle accident in which a 16-year old boy was killed.
Channel 2 reports that Jenkins stole a pillow and comforter from a Sears store in the 6900 block of Garth Road, then left the store and climbed into a pickup truck driven by Chauncey. Police then found the couple stealing from a nearby Academy sports store. Once the couple were in their pickup, the police moved in to make an arrest, however Chauncey backed up the truck and struck a police car before fleeing on Garth Road. When Jenkins and Chancey reached Garth Road and Rollingbrook they struck a pickup truck and also a car, killing the car’s 16-year old passenger Shawn Williams and injuring the 17-year old driver, Shay Hollingshead.
Shawn’s sister Tyler Williams told Channel 2 that she learned about the accident via Twitter: that there had been a collision near a 24-hour Fitness gym and that one of the vehicles had caught fire. Shawn was less than five minutes from home where the wreck happened and had just finished working a shift at El-Toro’s To-Go Kitchen. One of the managers at El-Toro’s, Herb Martinez, described Shawn as one of the most polite people he has ever met.
After the crash Jenkins and Chauncey jumped out of their wrecked pickup truck and tried to flee the scene, but were apprehended after a short foot chase. Shay Hollingshead and transported to Memorial Hermann via life flight helicopter in serious condition. Channel 11 report. Channel 13 report. Houston Chronicle report.

16-year old accident victim Shawn Williams

Shannon Chauncey's wrecked Ford pickup truck

Sharon Zakkizadeh and Joseph Seymour victims of Highway 6 car accident

21
Oct 2012
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Categories: Auto Accident

A crash last night on HIghway 6 in Santa Fe, Texas has claimed two lives and left another driver injured. Santa Fe Police Department say 29-year old Carles Orsak was driving westbound on Highway 6 when he rear-ended a Jeep driven by 65-year old Sharon Zakkizadeh: the Jeep rolled after the impact killing Sharon instantly. The Keep crossed into eastbound traffic and hit 58-year old Joseph Seymour’s Honda. Mr. Seymour was trapped in his vehicle and died. Orsak was in stable condition at UTMB; police are investigating the cause of the collision. Channel 2’s story is here. Galveston Daily News story is here. Channel 13’s story.

Esther Anderson charged with 2-year old’s intoxication assault after car accident

18
Oct 2012
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Categories: Auto Accident Drunk driving accidents

39-year old mother Esther Anderson was arrested and charged with intoxication assault yesterday after a single car accident seriously injured her 2-year old little girl, according to KHOU Channel 11. The wreck happened around 4:00 p.m. as Anderson was driving her 2004 GMC Envoy on Carriage Hills Boulevard north of The Woodlands when she lost control and struck a tree on the passenger side. Sergeant Angela Fountain with the D.P.S. said the toddler was not secured in the vehicle by a car seat, safety belt or any kind of restraint at all. In fact a witness who saw the vehicle prior to the crash said the toddler was standing up near the center console.
DPS officers found an open can of Busch beer in the vehicle and believe it was resting between Anderson’s legs at the time of the crash. Due to the child’s injuries, Anderson was subject to a mandatory blood draw: she was held overnight at the hospital and will be taken to jail to face charges of injury to a child and intoxication assault. Anderson’s husband showed up at the accident scene: he was questioned by deputies who determined he had an outstanding Montgomery County warrant for child abandonment: he was taken to jail.
Photos taken by KHOU show a 12-pack of Busch beer in the vehicle, and also where law enforcement apparently lined up several empty beer cans on the hood of the wrecked SUV. A story on the Montgomery County Police Reporter web site states that, according to Anderson’s husband, she had left earlier than afternoon to get a birthday cake for the couple’s 9-year old. No birthday cake was in the car. Car crashes are the number one killer of children aged 1 to 12-years old in the U.S. You can read on the NHTSA’s web site how to check if your child is in the right car seat.

Photo credit: KHOU

Photo credit: KHOU

Wilson Avelar charged after 2 killed in car accident and fire on FM 2978 near Tomball

17
Oct 2012
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Categories: Auto Accident Criminal law Wrongful death

Two people were killed in a car accident and vehicle fire early Tuesday morning on FM 2978 about five miles outside Tomball in southwest Montgomery County. A pickup truck and flatbed truck collided near a curve in the roadway: state troopers say two people riding in the flatbed truck died. The driver of the flatbed truck, 31-year old Wilson Avelar, is in the process of being charged with two counts of negligent homicide according to DPS Trooper Erik Burse. According to Channel 11’s story, the accident happened because the flatbed truck, which was pulling a trailer, was trying to avoid a pickup truck that was waiting to make a left turn, but the flatbed’s brakes locked and the driver swerved, clipping one truck before hitting a Ford F-150 pickup head-on. The flatbed then burst into flames, killing two inside.
According to Section 6.03(d) of the Texas Penal Code, a person acts with “criminal negligence” when, with respect to circumstances surrounding his conduct or the result of his conduct, he ought to be aware of the substantial and unjustified risk that the circumstances exist or the result will occur. The risk must of such a nature and degree that the failure to perceive it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that an ordinary person would exercise under all the circumstances as viewed from the actor’s standpoint.

Driver high on PCP kills two in accident at Kirby Drive Shell station

15
Oct 2012
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Categories: Auto Accident Drunk driving accidents Wrongful death

Early this morning a man and woman were killed in an accident shortly after making some purchases at a Shell gas station on Kirby Drive near the Southwest Freeway, and police believe the driver responsible was high on Phencyclidine (PCP) at the time. The man and woman were in a blue-colored Chevrolet Impala and were stopped waiting to leave the gas station parking lot to turn right on the service road when the driver’s side of their vehicle was hit by the suspect traveling at a high rate of speed. The suspect’s vehicle appears to be an Impala also, only black. The victims were killed instantly. Police say the driver who caused the accident seemed to have little comprehension of what happened: he was taken to Ben Taub to be checked out and will face two counts of intoxication manslaughter. Channel 2 coverage. Channel 13 coverage. Channel 11 coverage.

Photo credit: KHOU

The victims were leaving this Shell station at Kirby Drive and 59

Accident on Airline Drive near West Hambrick kills two

13
Oct 2012
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Categories: Auto Accident Pedestrian accidents Wrongful death

Two were killed and three injured in a chain reaction wreck around 8:00 p.m. last night in the 10600 block of Airline Drive near West Hambrick Road. According to deputies a female pedestrian was fatally struck as she walked down the street. The driver of a pickup truck swerved to avoid a second pedestrian, causing the truck to collide head-on with another truck heading south on Airline. A female passenger in the southbound vehicle was killed in the collision. According to Channel 11’s video report, a body was lodged in the windshield of one of the vehicles. Channel 2’s coverage of the accident. Channel 11’s report. Channel 13’s accident report. Houston Chronicle’s story.

Vehicle involved in last night's double fatality crash

Victim's friend Jordan Lewis is interviewed by Channel 11 News

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